Using PGP as part of a filter makes perfect sense. If you're looking for "bad guys" that do certain activities, as a starting filter, it doesn't hurt to say "OK, show me everyone in this region doing these activities. Now filter by language, etc. etc.".
Just like if I was looking for gang members, I might start off a filter with "look for tattoos". It doesn't mean I'm saying everyone with a tattoo is gang member, it's just a way to start filtering.
The NSA analysts are presumably actually trying to get something done (find people they think are bad). How stupid do you think they are? If you were an NSA analyst, would you tag "person of interest" on everyone using PGP? How would that help your goal of finding actual people of interest?
They say they caught 300 "terrorists" with this program and other success stories. Presumably, they didn't achieve any success by wasting lots of time flagging random PGP users.
Using PGP as part of a filter makes perfect sense. If you're looking for "bad guys" that do certain activities, as a starting filter, it doesn't hurt to say "OK, show me everyone in this region doing these activities. Now filter by language, etc. etc.".
Just like if I was looking for gang members, I might start off a filter with "look for tattoos". It doesn't mean I'm saying everyone with a tattoo is gang member, it's just a way to start filtering.
The NSA analysts are presumably actually trying to get something done (find people they think are bad). How stupid do you think they are? If you were an NSA analyst, would you tag "person of interest" on everyone using PGP? How would that help your goal of finding actual people of interest?
They say they caught 300 "terrorists" with this program and other success stories. Presumably, they didn't achieve any success by wasting lots of time flagging random PGP users.